Nine years ago marks the time the Northwest Community started contributing to the Hunger Bowl. The Hunger Bowl is a food drive that students can participate in by donating money, toiletries, and canned foods. It has become customary for Northwest to participate in this tradition, but do we know how it started?
The Northwest Mounties first participated in the Hunger Bowl against the Western Panthers. Ever since then, Northwest and Western have made it a tradition to compete with one another during this event.
The leaders of the ‘Be More Kind’ club play an important role in this tradition. Marnie Hade, Yearbook, Broadcasting, and Digital Media teacher, advises this club alongside Rebecca Moulton, the Spanish teacher.
Anyone can participate by joining the club. They are very service based around the school.
There are service coordinators in each building of our school district. Hade helps with the overall Northwest district, while Moulton is the coordinator for the high school.
The service coordinators meet online to discuss plans and drive all the food donated toward Compassionate Ministries. Compassionate Ministries is a non-profit organization that aims to change the community through food. It has a huge food pantry that families go to every other Saturday. This organization also helps provide food to over thirteen other food pantries in Jackson County.
The Northwest Community and Compassionate Ministries help one another by supplying food in Northwest’s community closet and giving away backpacks full of food. These backpacks feed over one hundred students in the district.
Motivation plays a key part in continuing this tradition. Both communities greatly impact people’s lives in many ways, and they help keep the communities motivated to help one another.
Dedicating time and putting in effort helps just as much as donating money. The Northwest Community raised 1,003 dollars this year. At most food pantries, every dollar creates approximately six meals for different families. With raising 1,003, that is around 6,000 meals provided by the community.
“I’m a public school teacher. I can’t afford to donate the same kind of money some of my friends can, who have different kinds of jobs, but I sure can donate my time,” said Hade. “That’s how I like to contribute.”
A tremendous part of the Hunger Bowl tradition is the football game. It is a rivalry event that brings the Mounties and Panthers together while both strive to become victorious. This event brings publicity to the Hunger Bowl by both communities helping collect nonperishable goods.
Coach Stafford Newsome is the one who leads the football team to success. Competing and closing the gap between two programs is one of his memorable moments from this ongoing tradition. He faces many obstacles whilst coaching, but in the long run, he believes the key is having a great team. Not only that but also parents and coaches.
“Ms. Hade spearheads the Hunger Bowl and she does a GREAT job at it. She honestly deserves all that credit for that portion,” said Newsome.
Moulton and Hade collect all the donations at a tent and table outside the football stadium. Students and families can drop off canned goods and donate money.
Since the Hunger Bowl is a long-time tradition and Moulton is a long-time staff member, she helps with various social projects every year.
“I want to share my time, energy, and money to help good things happen in our school and community,” said Moulton.
Staff members, students, families, and alumni have played important parts these past nine years by putting effort into keeping this tradition alive. Working together to raise funds for food banks provides more opportunities for those in need.
